10 



BULLETIN" 84, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Seedling plants have often produced by the following spring roots 

 large enough to give a small crop of shoots, but it is advisable to 

 delay cutting the crop until the second year in order not to weaken the 

 plants at first — following in this practice that usual with asparagus. 



THE BLANCHING OF THE SHOOTS. 



The stems of the udo when green are rank in flavor, and although 

 the green shoots when pulled, peeled, and stewed are said to make 

 excellent greens, it is the blanched shoots first produced in the spring- 

 that form the table delicacy. The blanching of these shoots has been 

 done in a variety of ways. At first the method followed was that of 

 mounding up the earth over each plant in early spring, but in this 

 climate it was found that the late frosts make the soil too cold, and 









■r 



■ II ^ IM , 



l^^^^Ps A 



*JttiL^*~JkMt*. f 



r 



gfc. ' 'n^T --3^'-**'"' 



H^> ^ 



* a r ^ 



* 



! 



*£ ; "*j&^* 

















— 1 



c - jm 







Fig. 9. — Udo planting at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, showing on the right two mounds of 

 earth which cover plants which were cut down in midsummer. The shoots blanched 

 under these mounds were of excellent quality. While successful in the cool summer 

 of Nova Scotia, this method will probably not be practicable in warmer climates. 



the shoots are slow in coming through it. (Fig. 9.) In California, 

 however, on the asparagus lands near Antioch, on the Sacramento 

 River, Mr. W. II. Meek has produced excellent udo by mounding up 

 the hills, much as he does those of asparagus; but there the soil is 

 ?ilmost as light as sawdust. 



A very satisfactory method for blanching udo in a small home 

 garden is to put over each hill before growth starts in the spring a 

 large draintile which has one end plugged with a cement cap or 

 covering. The shoots coming up inside of the tile are well blanched, 

 and this method has the advantage of making it possible to examine 

 the shoots at any time to see how they are coming along. It has 

 at least one disadvantage, however, in that the shoots have a tendency 

 to leaf out and produce a number of unopened leafstalks which take 



